was
probably a part of the public service which was directly under the
control of Cassiodorus when Praetorian Praefect, and was administered
at his bidding by one or more Regendarii.

[Footnote 164: The first form of the name is found in the Notitia, the
second in Lydus and Cassiodorus.]

[Footnote 165: It is not easy to make out exactly what Lydus wishes us
to understand about the Cursus Publicus; but I think his statements
amount to this, that it was taken by Arcadius from the Praetorian
Praefect and given to the Magister Officiorum, was afterwards restored
to the Praefect, and finally was in effect destroyed by the corrupt
administration of John of Cappadocia. (See ii. 10; iii. 21, 61.)]

[Sidenote: Exceptores.]

(10) We now come to the _Exceptores_, or shorthand writers[166], a
large and fluctuating body who stood on the lowest step of the
official ladder[167] and formed the raw material out of which all its
higher functionaries were fashioned in the regular order of promotion.

[Footnote 166: The [Greek: tachygraphoi] of Lydus.]

[Footnote 167: In making this statement I consider the Adjutores to be
virtually another class of Exceptores, and I purposely omit the
Singularii as not belonging to the _Militia Litterata_, which alone I
am now considering.]

[Sidenote: Augustales.]

[Sidenote: Deputati.]

We are informed by Lydus[168], that in his time the Exceptores in the
Eastern Empire were divided into two corps, the higher one called
_Augustales_, who were limited in number to thirty, and the lower, of
indefinite number and composing the rank and file of the profession.
The Augustales only could aspire to the rank of Cornicularius; but in
order that some prizes might still be left of possible attainment by
the larger class, the rank of Primiscrinius was tenable by those who
remained 'on the rolls of the Exceptores.' The reason for this change
was that the unchecked application of the principle of seniority to so
large a body of public servants was throwing all the more important
offices in the Courts of Justice into the hands of old men. The
principle of 'seniority tempered by selection' was therefore
introduced, and the ablest and most learned members of the class of
Exceptores were drafted off into this favoured section of Augustales,
fifteen of the most experienced of whom were appropriated to the
special service of the Emperor, while the other fifteen filled the
higher offices (with the exception of